Harbhajan Singh to lead Punjab in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh who has been out of the national team for a long time now has been elected captain of the Punjab side that will compete in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy starting from 29th January. The Punjab team for the T20 tournament was selected by the Senior Selection Committee of the Punjab Cricket Association during a meeting under the chairmanship of Bhupinder Singh Sr.

The discard spinner Harbhajan who took a break from cricket for 8 months will be seen in action after a long lay-off. His deputy for the tournament will be Gurkeerat Singh Mann. Punjab will start their campaign against Haryana at Amtar on January 29 and will play continuous cricket for the next five days. They will meet Delhi on January 30 followed by matches against Jammu and Kashmir, Services and Himachal Pradesh on Jan 30, Jan 31 and Feb 1 respectively. The team is expected to leave for Amtar on January 27 accompanied by their coach Arun Sharma and bowling coach Harvinder Singh.

The team consists of some big names especially in the domestic circuit with Manan Vohra opening the innings. His experience of playing in the IPL for the Kings XI Punjab will surely help Punjab in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The bowling department comprises of Sandeep Sharma who has been a potent weapon for the Kings XI Punjab in IPL especially in the death overs. Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma’s experience will come in handy for Punjab. Gurkeerat Singh has also got exposure of playing for India and in the IPL and will hope to make his opportunity count ahead of the IPL in 2017

The Team: Harbhajan Singh (capt), Manan Vohra, Pargat Singh, Jaskaran Singh Sohi (wicket-keeper), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sharad Lumba, Anmolpreet Singh, Nikhil Chaudhary, Siddharth Kaul, Manpreet Singh Grewal, Sandeep Sharma, Varun Khanna, Baltej Singh, Rahul Sharma, Ramandeep Singh, Anmol Malhotra.

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